> "Two business school professors, curious about A.I. books and whether anyone actually likes them, gathered data about 10 million books published on Amazon over the last five years. They found that the number of e-books published per month had tripled since the release of ChatGPT, to more than 300,000 at the end of last year, from around 100,000 in 2022. (Amazon said that its internal metrics did not show that level of growth, but would not share its figures.). Because romance sells, the professors thought it would be the genre most susceptible to A.I. intervention, but instead it was nonfiction — a term that should probably be used loosely in this context. While A.I.-assisted books received lower customer ratings than human-made ones, they deemed A.I.’s entry into the market a positive development, because the books were selling, if modestly. As economists, they told me, they’re less concerned with literary quality or customer satisfaction than revenue growth and market expansion."

One of the writers, Bill Johns, age 70, a retired cyber security consultant:

> "Mr. Johns now has 445 books for sale on Amazon. He orders a paperback copy of each one and keeps them on four rotating white bookshelves that are crowded awkwardly next to a couch in his living room. They all feature a photo of him in a serious dark suit — which is A.I. generated. “It was either that or put on a suit and take selfies,” he said."

> As economists, they told me, they’re less concerned with literary quality or customer satisfaction than revenue growth and market expansion.

As a human, I am concerned with these economists.

This is definitely the guy if anybody wants to peruse for themselves: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0F2RNXR5R The most reviews I could find for any book was 6, most with 0. They cluster around 'dad' topics so I assume he selects the topics himself. I wonder how many he has actually read any substantial amount of. I'm always curious to what degree these people are conscious spammers vs koolaid drinkers. I find it funny that he considers it a ridiculous idea to have his picture actually taken once for an author photo lol.

KDP now has a limit of 10 books per week to limit it unless you can convince them you're a legitimate publisher, and e.g. Draft2Digital does not submit ebooks to Amazon any more for the same reason. But you can still offer paperbacks via any number of third party providers that will be available via Amazon.

> One of the writers, Bill Johns, age 70, a retired cyber security consultant

This is crazy to me. You're 70! Just be retired and fuck off, stop actively making the world a worse place!

This is <sarcasm>good</sarcasm>. It should eventually make writing not a viably profitable career for anyone also. How the heck will people ever stand out and not just be grey goo? How will anyone know what is good versus garbage?